Notre Dame Football: Reasons for and against Irish finally joining a conference

Reason No. 2 to join: Extra “data point”

One of the reasons many people give for the Irish to join a conference is the extra “data point”. The feeling across most of college football is the Irish have to go undefeated to reach the College Football Playoff. That is because — unlike schools that are in conferences — they do not play a conference title game.

Looking at Notre Dame’s schedule as is, their season is done right after Thanksgiving — although the USC is canceled. Two programs reaching their conference championship games play the first weekend in December.

If Notre Dame were upset early by Navy or Wake Forest, they do not have the extra game to impress voters or make up for the early loss like every Power Five team does. The additional conference game worked wonders for Ohio State in 2014 after an early loss to Virginia Tech.

Recently the extra data point has not mattered for the ACC champion or the Pac-12 champion.  Clemson has been dominant the last four years, and except for Washington, the Pac-12 has been out of the hunt before championship weekend.

Even if the playoff committee looks at the strength of schedule and strength of record, Notre Dame always lacks the data point the voters consider.

If they were part of a conference, they would have the extra data point.